Augusta National Golf Club: A Fantastic Golf Course
July 29, 2008
The Augusta national golf club has been the location of the well known and highly televised Masters Tournament. The course is located in Augusta Georgia and has be placed on land that used to be a tree nursery.
An elegant designed golf course enjoyable, for those with the skill to enjoy.
The club is adorned with mant trees, flowers and every hole has the name of a tree that is located on the hole. In the early days it stood out from the rest of the golf courses due to the small number of bunkers, compared to other golf courses. The widths of the fairways on the course were also different from the other professional courses.
Changes to the Course
Over the years architects have made changes to the course such as placing more bunkers, decreasing the contours of the greens and placing more trees on the course. The creation of serveral rough areas made the course more challenging.
The greens at the course had a long tradition of being made from traditional Bermuda grass. In 1the early 80s, they were changed to being made from bent grass, which provides a faster surface on the green. This was the deciding factor for the changing of the contours that were placed on the green.
Members of the Augusta national golf club are probably familiar with the large oak tree that is located on the course and is thought to be over 140 years old.
The Eisenhower tree is a solid pine tree, which is situated on the 17th hole of the course.
Historians of the course claim that the tree was hit with a golf ball numerous times, (to his disgust) by President Eisenhower, and so he recommend that they remove the tree. The chairman of the course at the time did not want to have to ignore the recommendation of the President, however he decided the best thing to do was close the meeting.
The course also has Ike’s Pond, which was named after General Eisenhower. He had taken a walk in the woods on a distant portion of the club, and advised the chairman of the club that he had found a great place to include a pond. The pond was built based on his advice.
The chairman’s job was an extremely diplomatic role, with so many top names of politics and high ranking officials. It allowed its first African-American member in 1990. It is currently an all-male membership.
The Augusta course is a spectacular golf course, for both professionals and the weekend players. I highly recommend it if for only to pick out the specific famous peole, who have played there, and to identify how they moulded course.
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